


Dance With Me

by jackelope



Category: Dead by Daylight (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, Fluff and Angst, Gals being pals, One Shot, they are girlfriends and they make out I'm sorry I make the rules
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-31
Updated: 2020-01-31
Packaged: 2021-02-27 12:21:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,567
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22477081
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jackelope/pseuds/jackelope
Relationships: Kate Denson/Yui Kimura
Comments: 5
Kudos: 37





	Dance With Me

Before the fog, Yui had lived fast - as was fitting for a wild-hearted street racer such as herself. Fast bikes grabbed fast cash, fast girls, a fast fight every now and again. But she'd been doing what she loved, for better and for worse; the thrill of speed - the wind pulling her hair and blurs of blinding light forming a tunnel around the perfect machine of herself and her rig - the thrill of winning, not just for the money, but for herself and the girls who cheered for her across Nagoya - those were things that had made her feel _alive_ , feel _strong_ , melted away all the pain and doubt and made that life feel like it was worth living.

The Trials had echoes of that - the energy and zeal of sprinting, dodging back and forth, racing to rescue her allies - but between the trials was wretched downtime that left them clustered around a campfire, searching for something to talk about other than how miserable things were in this plane of structured suffering. For some, those times were comforting, making them feel closer, or feel ready despite the perils that always awaited them in the Trials. For Yui, the quiet moments were the worst. They always made her restless, never enough of a high left over from the last game to get her through. One of the other girls - Kate, was her name - liked to punctuate the downtime with some soft, folksy music, strumming her guitar and humming out graceful little melodies to lift her companions' spirits. Yui didn't share her taste in music, but she liked to listen anyway. When she got up to stand a few feet away from the fire, leaning her back against a tree, she never went far enough to lose the quiet strum of Kate's guitar. At a distance it was harder to tell who exactly she was staring at when she looked back over the sun-colored glow of the fire.

Fluttering fancies reminded Yui of a distant time when she'd never wanted anything to last. Kate was different, not much like the girls she'd celebrated with back home, but the fast lane was far away, and so were the Nagoya riffraff she'd once claimed the night with. Besides, what would she even say to the other girl? Flirtatious comments didn't come easily when your world was this grim, especially not when there was always someone else standing in the way, sitting closer to Kate than Yui, close enough to get caught in conversation whether she wanted them to or not.

"Do you know Wonderwall?"

What a dumb, dumb thing to say, especially for someone who'd spent so long mulling over what not to say.

Kate scoffed, gathering from Yui's dull tone that it was meant to be a joke. Her heavy curls bobbed elegantly, naturally, she though they were a living force separate from her, as she lifted her head to scrutinize the other girl from her fireside seat. Everyone else was far enough away, either physically or mentally, that this time they finally had the air to themselves.

And Yui had wasted it.

She was surprised to suddenly make out the solemn introduction to her impromptu song request. A note skipped, and Kate hesitated.

"Keep going."

Their eyes met. Yui still had her arms crossed, but she was giving Kate a warm, expectant look. Kate smirked, but there was something missing from her eyes that made it seem hollow.

"I don't remember all the words anyway."

It wasn't wholly an apology or an excuse. Yui lunged for something to keep the dialogue afloat.

"You don't have to sing, just..."

And then she lost it. Reaching to pick it back up again, she found a relic from her past.

"Just cheer me on, alright?"

A request she'd given to her favorite of the original Sakura Seven, the gang of girls who had done nothing but cheer her on seemingly from the very beginning. So Yui had asked her for something she knew the other would give as a circumstance, while at the same time silently telling her that she - Yui - couldn't give what was wanted of her. No more nights with members of her following had ensued. She didn't date inside the gang anymore. Kate wouldn't understand, though - it didn't mean the same things to her.

"Cheer you on?"

So she asked, quizzical yet slightly tentative, unsure of what she was missing.

"Nevermind."

Yui shut her down at the first turn, not wanting to explain. Then, thinking that may have been too harsh, and still wanting the musician's attention, she doubled back down the same road.

"It's just something I used to say to the girls who would root for me in the races."

Not a lie yet not the truth - such a statement truly belonged nowhere.

"Oh."

Yet she had realized nothing. Suspicion was still clear as the day which never came here on Kate's features. Yui unfolded herself and strode over to where Kate sat, acoustic guitar command her lap, beside the slowly-dwindling fire. Not wanting to seem to flighty or too domineering, the street racer sat down at Kate's side, still too far to distinguish between her warmth and that of the flames.

"I got pretty used to having other people there to cheer for me. I guess I miss it sometimes."

What was the solution to be? A cheerleader in a Trial was offering a senseless sacrifice, drawing attention to themself for no reason.

There was no solution - she was just bemoaning the loss of one of millions of facets of her former life. To Yui, such was senseless. She liked to think in objectives, find a goal and race her way to it by any means necessary.

Kate was searching her, not ready to respond until she was sure Yui was ready to hear it. Yui didn't care; she would listen to anything Kate had to say, just to hear her voice.

"Well, I'm no cheerleader."

Her words indicated resignation, but her voice was hopeful. She was looking for something more, for a way to keep going.

"You don't have to be."

Yui didn't want her to be. All she wanted from Kate was for the girl to keep talking to her, or singing to her, or just staying close to her.

"I wanna do _something_."

Remarking that Yui was obviously upset seemed pointless - of course she was upset. She tried to hide it, tried to act like her old tough, confident self, thought about all the hardships she'd had to go through and told herself she could make it, she could power through anything, she'd get out of here somehow. But right now, right now it was failing - and she was falling back on her old vices.

Kate laid a hand on her wrist.

"Sing with me."

Yui bit the inside of her lip.

"I don't have the voice for it."

She looked past Kate, knowing that if she laid eyes on her she would give in in an instant, and she wanted to shake her bad habits.

"Then play for me."

"I don't know how."

"Then I'll show you how."

Kate was insistent. Yui didn't have it in her to resist, knew she didn't, so she let the other girl scoot closer to he, lay that precious guitar on her lap, take Yui's petite hands in hers and show her how to hold it. Kate was half behind Yui now, and Yui could feel the heat of her bare, dirty thighs. Fingers wound together, courting the strings, trying to harmonize enough to produce a sweet sound. Yui didn't want to learn to play the guitar as much as she just wanted to hold hands with Kate. Kate seemed to notice, and stroked her wrists. Yui pushed her face against Kate's, letting their cheeks brush, and then dared to kiss her.

She had kissed many girls - some only once, just out of sight of a finish line, and others too many times. But this one was different. This, this she _wanted_ to last. One kiss wasn't enough; she wanted every night to end this way, not to move on to the next race as soon as she caught it out of the corner of her eye. Maybe it was only the despair of this prison in the mist making her feel this way - but, even if it was, maybe that was okay.

Yui's right hand traced its way down the curved body of Kate's well-loved guitar, imagining it was the girl laid across her lap and not the instrument. Kate chuckled and looked away as soon as their lips parted, but now it was Yui's turn to take _her_ by the wrist, to guide _her_ hands where they needed to go. She was timid, like she was touching a precious statue she was worried about breaking. The guitar was left to stand where Kate had sat, propped up against the log they were sitting on. Kate's chest pressed against hers, and Yui wrapped her arms around the other girl, holding her even closer. The moon, unphasing here, captured their embrace in its milky white eye.

This was it - the one thing she never wanted to pass, the one race she didn't need to win. Trials would come and go, street thrills would come and go, but here was one feeling that was meant to stay.


End file.
